


The Only Way Out is Through

by writerdragonfly



Series: McKay/Sheppard Bites [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Established Relationship, M/M, Secret Relationship, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 00:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7954963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdragonfly/pseuds/writerdragonfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Out of time with no other choice, Dr. McKay pulls a beaten and bloody Major Sheppard through an obviously malfunctioning Stargate, Earth's address already dialed in a last ditch effort.  </p><p>Elizabeth Weir is dead, they're out of contact with the rest of their people, and Rodney only has one chance. The city won't survive the storm now that Kolya has taken apart their attempts to save it.  </p><p>With that little bit left in the ZPM, Rodney knows he can at least save Sheppard, and keep the city out of Genii (and Wraith) hands in the same measure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Way Out is Through

**Author's Note:**

> Ah ha, this was actually the second time-travel McShep fic I wrote. I figured I'd go through my unposted fics and see which ones were complete enough to post. This is one of them. 
> 
> It hasn't been edited and the bulk of it was actually written back in April. Possibly out of character? (Probably?) It may or may not end up with a sequel. I promise nothing.

The gash on his arm is bleeding sluggishly, the torn white strip from the bottom of his t-shirt already turning bright red. His feet ache, he's nearly lethargic, and he still has Elizabeth's blood on his face. 

 

Kolya drops Sheppard at his feet, the unconscious (dead? is he dead? is he breathing? can he survive that?) man hitting the floor with a thud. 

 

"The Genii have many allies, Doctor," Kolya says with his creepy smile, "So if you're lying to me, and this city survives the storm, I will hunt you down--"

 

Rodney reacts instinctively, swinging his good arm up and firing the pistol he snagged off Sheppard's body as it fell with one swift movement. 

 

Kolya's body shudders backward from the double hit, his skull smacking the console behind him with a sickening crack. 

 

Rodney doesn't think he's dead. Kolya is the kind of man that nightmares are made of. He's Jason and Freddy Krueger and...

 

He dials the eight symbols of Earth, smacks the last button with a resounding thud. 

 

"--McKay--" his comm unit cuts in, the faint sound of Ford and Teyla's voices overlapping. 

 

There's no time though. Kolya could wake at any moment, and the storm is close. 

 

Elizabeth's blood drips over his eye and he instinctively flinches. 

 

Sheppard still has a pulse, the Stargate connects. Rodney runs as fast as he can down the steps with Sheppard's heavy body hiked up on his shoulder, typing in his IDC.  He runs into the bright blue of the event horizon with Sheppard weighing him down and Teyla's voice still in his ears. 

 

"Rodney, we're on the way."

 

It's too late. 

 

-x-

 

He sees the gun-metal grey of the Stargate gate room before he passes out. 

 

-x-

 

Rodney wakes up in the infirmary to Doctor Janet Fraiser's penlight in his eyes. He feels like he's flying high, the drugs in his system making everything feel fluffy and stale. 

 

He tries to speak but nothing comes out. He can barely keep his eyes open a few seconds before everything goes black again. 

 

-x-

 

"Where did you get Major Carter's IDC?" someone is asking, and Rodney manages to open his eyes with some difficulty to see General Hammond questioning Sheppard at the next bed. 

 

"I don't know a Major Carter," Sheppard answers, and Rodney can see the mess of bruises across his face and neck. 

 

It makes him sick, and he finds himself heaving uncontrollably in his own lap. It's nothing but bile, and suddenly he's got a nurse and Doctor Fraiser at his side and Hammond is quiet. 

 

Hammond. 

 

Hammond shouldn't be here. 

 

Neither should Fraiser actually. 

 

"Time," Rodney manages to spit out, "Back in..."

 

And then he's out again. 

 

-x-

 

"Sheppard's DNA has the same kind of slight anomaly as McKay's, just in a different spot. Functionally, they're 99.95% matches for the two men Sheppard says they are. These are the kind of mutations you might expect from experimental gene therapy."

 

Rodney can see that Sheppard is asleep on the bed next to him. They must assume he's still asleep too, or he doubts this conversation would be happening here. 

 

"How... far... back?" Rodney asks, which cuts General Hammond's response short before it’s even started. 

 

"You're awake, how are you--"

 

"How far back did we travel," Rodney manages, "in time?"

 

Fraiser's eyes go wide in surprise, but Hammond manages a less obvious reaction. 

 

"March 20, 2002," Hammond answers. 

 

"Two and a half years," Rodney whispers to himself, "but not back far enough to stop Siberia."

 

The drugs take him under again, but he knows he must be getting better. 

 

-x-

 

He wakes up clearer headed, though his arm aches far worse than it had before. He can only guess that they're weaning him off whatever meds they've been pumping through his IV. 

 

"Rodney!" Sheppard says, and he thinks about it for a few seconds before he replies. 

 

"John."

 

Sheppard smiles, which he finds relaxing. 

 

"Dr. McKay, I see you've finally woken up. Can you tell me what today's date is?"

 

"I'm fairly certain that depends on how long I've been asleep, Dr. Frasier. The last time I woke up General Hammond saw fit to inform me it was March 20th, 2002. Last date I was aware of before that was October 7th, 2004, which would likely--"

 

"You think it's real?" John interrupts, which Rodney actually understands. 

 

"I activated the Stargate at the height of the storm, John," Rodney says, deliberately choosing to refer to him by name, "And Kolya and his men..."

 

"He killed Elizabeth," John says, "and tortured you."

 

"I knew it was a risk, using the gate. But there wasn't time and I couldn't have gotten to the Alpha site without risking Kolya following us."

 

"So you dialed Earth and hoped it would stay active long enough."

 

"Looks like it did. I... knew it was possible. The... time travel. Just... didn't expect it."

 

"You saved my life," John says.

 

"You saved mine first."

 

-x-

 

They spend another day in the infirmary before Dr. Fraiser clears them to leave. They're confined to base--confined to one room actually--but Rodney doesn't mind. He's alive, John's alive, and they have time. Time to change things, to save people. 

 

He has a nightmare that first night out of the infirmary. He wakes up with his entire body shaking, Kolya's face seared into the inside of his eyelids, and the sound of Elizabeth's body hitting the floor, the warmth of the blood splattering on his face echoing through his head. 

 

He crawls onto John Sheppard's tiny bunk with him, neither one of them saying anything. 

 

John's arms wrap around him, pulling him close and Rodney tries to remember that he's thirty-five. 

 

He falls back asleep with John's breath on the back of his neck. 

 

-x-

 

Samantha Carter is the one to collect them in the morning, and he can read the surprise on her face when she sees them still in John's bunk, pressed tightly against each other. They're sitting, not lying like they've slept, but they're still closer than is probably acceptable for John's backwards military. 

 

"General Hammond wanted to know if you were willing to... debrief, this morning."

 

"We'll be ready shortly," John says, and he continues to re-bandage Rodney's arm right in front of Carter, "I need to finish changing Rodney's bandage first."

 

"I will let him know. Just tell the airman outside the door when you're ready and he'll bring you down."

 

"Thank you, Major," John says, and he keeps  adjusting as Carter leaves. 

 

John kisses him softly when the door clicks shut. It's the first time they've done that outside the safety of the closed doors of their rooms in Atlantis, the first time it wasn't part of particularly dirty sex. 

 

It's the first time John's affirmed that he wants something from him outside the sex. And he did it in full view of cameras they both know are watching. 

 

"We should go," Rodney says, kissing John before he gets up. 

 

His arm aches.

 

-x-

 

The airman delivers them promptly to the conference room. General Hammond is sitting at the table already, the members of SG1 gathered around the table next to him. 

 

"Can you tell us how you came to be in possession of Major Carter's IDC?"

 

"I didn't," Rodney said reflexively, "I entered my own."

 

"We received Major Carter's IDC in the seconds before you arrived through the gate. We barely had time to open the Iris before you stepped through."

 

"I entered the IDC code--the code given to me upon accepting the offer to be Chief Scientific Officer of Atlantis Base--and then immediately went through the gate because I didn't have another choice. John and I had one chance to make it out alive and he wasn't even conscious."

 

"I still don't know how you carried me down all those damn stairs."

 

"Atlantis?"

 

"It's an Ancient cityship located in the Pegasus Irregular Galaxy if I remember correctly," John says, and Rodney smiles at him. 

 

"Exactly correct, Major. Dr. Jackson found the eight-chevron gate address while at the Antarctic Ancient Outpost."

 

"Perhaps we should start at the beginning, Dr. McKay."

 

Rodney starts with Siberia. He starts with how desolate and cold it was, how the some of the people he worked with sometimes used lemon and orange based cleaners just so Rodney couldn't be in the same room as them. He talks about how the Ancient Outpost was discovered and how he was assigned there.

 

John interrupts to talk about meeting Rodney when he was assigned to McMurdo, about how they became friends after the drone incident garnered John clearance and a one-way ticket into the expedition. 

 

John pauses, looks at Rodney. Rodney doesn't know what he's going to say, but he's going to support him anyway. 

 

"We had a few days of leave before Rodney was due to report at the SGC for final preparations, so we went to Canada and took care of the paperwork. Knew it wouldn't go through at the SGC until we were in Atlantis, didn't think they'd be able to stop me from going if it did anyway. They needed my gene for the expedition, and breaking DADT wasn't all that important."

 

In reality, they'd spent the weekend in Las Vegas, where they got drunk and had sex for the first time. But that wasn't important. They couldn't risk being separated right now, and well...

 

"But then we had to hide our marriage anyway because Major Impulse ended up ranking military officer within forty-eight hours of arriving in Atlantis anyway," Rodney says, feeling satisfied when John shares that grin with him. 

 

They share the events that led up to Kolya storming the city, editing their whirlwind sexcapades into nights hidden away together in domestic solitude. 

 

"I grabbed the gun," Rodney says flatly, "because I knew he was going to kill John. And then I shot him."

 

" _ Rodney _ ." John's voice is soothing, and broken somehow. 

 

"His head hit the console and made this  _ sound _ ... I didn't check to see if he was alive. I just dialed up the DHD and grabbed Sheppard. I almost didn't put in my IDC,  did it while carrying him on the stairs actually. Didn't stop to wait for confirmation, couldn't."

 

"Then I woke up in the infirmary."

 

-x-

 

"I would, you know," John whispers into his skin that night, "I would marry you."

 

"I would accept," Rodney whispers back. 

 

-x-

 

"We have to consider the possibility of Entropic Cascade Failure--"

 

"It won't happen, we're within our own timeline."

 

-x-

 

"We've kept this in house as much as we can manage. We're prepared to offer you new identities, so you can continue on with your lives. If you're correct--which, we believe you are or the effects of the cascade failure would have already started--then there's no reason this isn't workable."

 

"Just because Entropic Cascade Failure isn't eminent doesn't mean something else won't happen. We don't know enough about the effects of time travel to know if staying in our own physical past for an extended period of time will affect us."

 

"So should we be attempting to send you back to Atlantis?"

 

"It won't even be possible yet. The amount of power needed just to send us to Atlantis is more than the SGC can currently supply. And even if we went directly back to that same moment..."

 

"If Kolya didn't finish us off, the storm certainly would."

 

-x-

 

They're assigned new identities and given the opportunity to work anywhere within the SGC. As Ingram McKay, Rodney McKay's apparent cousin, Rodney agrees to a posting at Area 51. John joins him as his husband John McKay, which suits John just fine. 

 

And it works, for awhile. They're working on alien tech for a few months, Rodney showing off on occasion just because he can, when the headaches start worsening. 

 

At first, they were easy to ignore. Pressure in the back of their heads, tiring a little more easily. Nothing that couldn't be explained by the stress of their position or their age. 

 

But the longer they spent in the past, the worse the headaches got. 

 

The night after Major Sheppard received clearance in Antarctica, Dr. Ingram McKay and his husband Dr. John McKay disappeared off base in the middle of the night. 

 

Rodney woke up first, sleeping uncomfortably in a chair in Antarctica. For the most part, nothing had changed other than an apparent snap back into his younger body. The first thing he did was look for John. John, however, was apparently bunking back in McMurdo because he was still Major Sheppard again. 

 

"Jackson," Rodney hissed, and the archaeologist jumped a little where he stood transcribing something on a white board. 

 

"What, McKay?"

 

"Two things! One, I imagine there's a red alert going off somewhere in Area 51 considering that's where I was fifteen minutes ago. And two, I don't have the authority to order Major Sheppard here, but I'd really prefer to see him now."

 

"What are you--"

 

"Yeah, yeah, apparently extended periods of time in your own timeline eventually swallows you into your own damn body."

 

"You mean you're--well certainly makes me glad we didn't get stuck in 1969 any longer."

 

"Thank you, Doctor Obvious."

 

-x-

 

The thing is, there's no official files on their arrival back in time. To protect them, they'd been secreted away. No one knows except SG1, Hammond and Fraiser. (Rodney has two sets of memories surrounding his knowledge of Doctor Fraiser. In one, she died. In the here and now, she lived.)

 

Fraiser resubmits their blood work, gets their altered DNA on file. They slide into their old lives. 

 

After two years as a married couple, being separate feels wrong. 

 

Having to pretend they don't know each other feels wrong. 

 

"He'll come with as a member of my science team if Colonel Sumner won't allow him," Rodney says to Elizabeth. (Elizabeth, her blood on his face). 

 

"He's military, Dr. McKay. You can't just co-opt him because he makes a useful light switch. 

 

"Major Sheppard is a mathematical genius, Dr. Weir. Even if he retires from the Air Force, we could still use him in Atlantis other than as a light switch."

 

"You've spent what, half an hour with him over the last week? How could you--"

 

"I really can't tell you that, Elizabeth.”

 

“What do you--”

 

“It's  _ classified _ .”

 

-x-

 

“Why are you so insistent on Major Sheppard’s involvement in the expedition?”

 

“Aside from his gene, you mean?”

 

“...”

 

“Yeah, I didn't think you'd take that.”

 

“What is so special about a flyboy wash out?”

 

“That's classified as need-to-know, Marshall. As much as I like you, I can't tell you.”

 

-x-

 

“Hey, Mer--McKay,” Sheppard says, his soft smile going a little more rigid at the sight of Elizabeth standing next to McKay. She doesn't understand why he stumbles around McKay’s name, and commits that to memory. 

 

“Major. Good to see you.”

 

“So, I have my defense on Monday and General O’Neill said I shouldn't go alone.”

 

Defense? Of what?

 

“He... Really? They're letting you--”

 

“He thinks it’ll help if, you know...”

 

“Ah, yeah. So, when are we leaving?”

 

“We can get a flight...”

 

-x-

 

“Jack, if there's something about their history I need to--”

 

“Elizabeth, I'm not even telling Sumner--”

 

“How can I lead an expedition when my CSO is  _ lying _ to me?”

 

“Liz, I really wish I could tell you. But I can't. Just trust them, all right? It's not... It's not  _ bad _ , okay?”

 

-x-

 

“We have to be back by 1300 hours on Wednesday, Rodney,” John says from his spot next to him on the bed.

 

“... And?”

 

“And I thought... Maybe we should go see Jeannie.”

 

“What?... Why?”

 

“She's your sister,” John says, “and don't you think it’ll bother you more if you miss the chance to see her now that you can?”

 

“... Yeah... But you're calling your dad before we leave. And your brother.”

 

-x-

 

John knocks on the door of Jeannie Miller’s house while Rodney hides in the car, but he's... okay with that.

 

“Hello...?” the woman who answers the door looks just like her picture, except with a toddler in her arms. 

 

“Hey... Are you Jeannie?”

 

“Is he okay?” She immediately asks, and John’s got  _ Rodney’s _ eyes staring right at him. 

 

“Mere? He's fine. He's in the car, actually.”

 

“... He lets you call him that?”

 

“Do you think he could stop me?” John asks, and she relaxes. 

 

“Why are you here?”

 

“You mean, why is he here?”

 

“Yeah...”

 

“I'm here to apologize... and introduce my future husband,” Rodney says from behind him a beat later, and Jeannie’s eyes go a little wet. 

 

-x-

 

John knows it's a cop-out, but he calls his dad while they wait for the plane. 

 

“Sheppard.”

 

“...” John swallows once at the sound of his voice before he can make himself speak, “Hi, Dad.”

 

“John?”

 

“Yeah, it's me.”

 

-x-

 

“I hate you.”

 

“No, you don't.”

 

“No, I don't Rodney.”

 

-x-

 

“Have fun on your sudden vacation, Major Sheppard?” Sumner asks when he and Rodney walk into the conference room. John almost wishes he could punch him. Almost. 

 

“Doctor,” Rodney says before John can get a word in edgewise. He might be upset, except he's kinda glad he didn't have to answer. 

 

“I wasn't addressing you, McKay.”

 

“I'm well aware of that, Colonel Sumner.”

 

“He was correcting you, Marshall,” O’Neill says with a wry grin, “because Major Sheppard was giving his defense for his Doctorate.”

 

“... how the hell did you have time to get a doctorate?”

 

“That’s classified,” Rodney answers again, which serves only to piss Sumner off. 

 

“What the--”

 

“Calm down. Now, I suppose since we’re all here, we should get started...”

 

-x-

 

“Colonel Sumner, sir?” John asks, stepping into the door frame of Sumner’s office. Sumner blinks, but nods to allow him in.

 

“At ease, Major.”

 

“I’d like to discuss something with you, sir. If you have some time.”

 

“I've no meetings for the next hour. Why don't you close the door.”

 

“Yes, sir,” John says. 

 

Once the door is closed, he pulls out a device and scans the room. It doesn't detect any bugs.

 

“What the hell is that?”

 

“Electronic interference scanner. Just checking for--”

 

“You thought my office was bugged?”

 

“Just being cautious. O’Neill said you were leery of allowing me on the expedition. I wanted to share why you don't have a choice.”

 

“You're just a--”

 

“Major pain in the ass? I know, sir.”

 

“There's nothing in your file I haven't seen, Major Sheppard, so I don't know how you could have a classified file that doesn't exist.”

 

“I have a doctorate in military science, and a second in mechanical engineering. I have my Masters in Mathematics and Aeronautics.”

 

“What does... two doctorates?”

 

“I got the first while working with McKay at Area 51. That isn't in my military file either. It wouldn't be.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about, Major?”

 

“If you decide not to include me on the basis of my military history, then I will be included as civilian staff. I'm not going to fight your decision.”

 

“Sheppard, what the hell are you talking about?”

 

“The reason O’Neill says it's classified isn't to protect a mission or an objective, sir. It's to protect me and McKay.”

 

“What the hell do you need protecting--”

 

“I knew I should have just had O’Neill tell you,” John says, turning away for a moment.

 

“Sheppard.”

 

“My name hasn't been Sheppard since 2002. That... that belonged to a different...”

 

“What the hell are you--”

 

“In two weeks, the Atlantis Expedition had travelled to Pegasus and within forty-eight hours, Marshall Sumner would die. That's my  _ past _ , Colonel Sumner. Until Rodney McKay decided that after being tortured and getting covered in Elizabeth Weir’s blood, that dialing Earth was the last chance we had.”

 

“You expect me to believe--”

 

“I don't expect you to believe a damn thing, Colonel Sumner. But you insisted you needed to know, and I don't think you--”

 

“You're serious.”

 

“Look up the file for Dr. J. McKay at Area 51. Ask O’Neill if you have any questions.”

 

-x-

 

Marshall doesn't know what the hell Sheppard is on, but he looks it up anyway. 

 

Current Status:  _ Pending Deletion. _

 

Marital Status:  _ Married/Domestic Partnership with Dr. Ingram McKay. _

  
  


The picture is John Sheppard. Glasses, hair dyed. But there's no mistaking him. 

 

There's also no mistaking that he was in Antarctica at the same time. He saw him there. 

 

Huh.

 

-x-

 

He tries to access the file again after lunch, but there's no sign of it. 

 

Pending deletion indeed. 

 

-x-

 

“Any additional suggestions for staff, Major Doctor Sheppard?” Sumner asks during the morning meeting. 

 

“What?”

 

“Do you believe we’ll be in need of additional officers or military command crew?”

 

“...yes.”

 

-x-

 

“General O’Neill, you asked to see me?” Chuck Campbell asks, walking into the office as directed. 

 

“Yes, please close the door.”

 

“What is this about, sir?”

 

“You are technically licensed to perform marriages, correct?”

 

“Canadien marriages.”

 

“Great, would you like to perform one last marriage before you ship off?”

 

“We leave tomorrow, and--”

 

“The wedding party is currently in... well, technically, they're in isolation. But, they're waiting for you. As is the paperwork.”

 

“Why am I--”

 

“McKay doesn't have time to fly home to get married if he expects to leave with you tomorrow.”

 

“McKay? McKay is getting married? To whom?!”

 

“It's a surprise wedding and we only have an hour, so about face and let's gay marry a couple people.”

 

“He's  _ gay _ ?”

 

-x-

 

“Mr. Sheppard, glad you could make it. And this must be David.”

 

“Dave,” the younger Sheppard corrects. 

 

“Dave. All right. Now, John has no idea either of you are here. My brother doesn't even know. But... it's important. They're only getting married once.”

 

“Brother?”

 

“Yeah, if you're a prejudiced asshole, you can keep it quiet until after the wedding or I’ll--”

 

“Jeannie,” her husband hisses. 

 

She smirks. 

 

“My brother built a nuclear bomb in sixth grade. I won't even have to lift a finger.”

 

-x-

 

“Yes, do you know why O’Neill paged us to isolation, Janet?”

 

“Oh, I think you’ll enjoy the surprise.” Janet replied with a smile.

 

These men had saved her once. They deserved this. 

 

“Surprise? What, is Sam--”

 

“Go inside already.”

 

-x-

 

“So, now you've been married twice as much as I have,” Dave smirks. John wants to be pissed, but he's actually kind of happy. 

 

“Yeah, but this time it’ll last.”

 

“That's what you said about Nancy.”

 

“Dave, I know you don't know him. But trust me... It's different this time.”

 

-x-

 

“Before we step through the gate, I'd like to offer Dr. McKay our congratulations on his recent nuptials,” Elizabeth says in front of the gate at the last second. She steps through before anyone can say anything. 

 

“McKay got married?!”

 

“Who married--”

 

John pushes his husband through the wormhole.

 

-x-

 

“Dr. Weir, Colonel Sumner. Dr. McKay and I need to brief you but we have a priority in raising the city first. We will explain shortly.”

 

“But--”

 

“Liz, trust them.”

 

-x-

 

The entire command staff sits around the table, surprised by the story the apparently  _ married _ couple gives them. 

 

“First, we need to visit the planet of Athos in case the Wraith were already going to cull there. If we have a chance at circumventing the attack, we should. But we should do it with the understanding that we’re building allies not...”

 

-x-

 

“I am Teyla Emmagan.”

 

-x-

 

The Wraith do not come, but John leaves Teyla with an IDC and the promise of future visits. 

 

-x-

 

The Genii homeworld is banned from their logs. 

 

-x-

 

“It's the Athosian IDC.”

 

“We were able to hide in time, thanks to your gift. But the wraith have destroyed our village, and we are seeking haven.”

 

“Come on through.”


End file.
